Why is a great registration page so important?

As motorsport event organizers, we have the privilege of hosting events that let us share our sport with others, bring friends together, and experience shared community among petrol heads. A lot of effort goes into making sure all our bases are covered at the track, and the online registration process is an integral part of setting the tone for your entire event.

Attendees don't want to "work" to get registered for an event. With lots of competition out there, having a registration process that works for the attendee, instead of against, means the difference between someone attending YOUR event, or the other guy's. Based on our experience hosting registrations for over 13,000 events, we've compiled a few guiding principles to make your registration form really stand out from the crowd.

3 Guiding Principles

Entice

Write a short, sweet, fun, and engaging advertising page to entice attendees to your event. In MotorsportReg, this is the first page someone sees after clicking the register button and it's your opportunity to engage the user and make them want to continue.  Use general terms so that anyone viewing it for the first time will know what your event is about. But don't overwhelm your attendee with all of the nitty-gritty.  Focus on your sales pitch and leave that for another page.

Inform

Inform your attendee about the event without turning them off.  Include key details (format, pricing, registration options, requirements to participate) on a page other than your advertising page. The Requirements page in MotorsportReg is the perfect spot for these details.  Make it easy-to-read and avoid confusing or redundant information. Attendees need to know the critical details about an event before registering, but if they don't understand it or feel overwhelmed with too much information, you can bet they're going to look for another event.

Guide

When it comes to collecting data from your attendees, guide them down the right path with a registration form that's easy for them to use.  Make it clear which choices attendees should make and avoid confusion or road blocks which can cause them to stop registering.  Format and organize your form layout so that attendees follow a logical path of options to completion. By the end of the form, you want them to feel confident that their information is complete and accurate.

In future posts, we'll dig deeper into how to put these principles into action.